

How Jersey Shore Food Not Bombs reduces waste and feeds the public
“It’s important that Food Not Bombs is accessible to everyone. It’s why we have it at the train station so that you don’t need a car to get here. It’s why we don’t ask for ID or proof of looking for a job in order to receive food.”

Jersey filmmakers explore the wild tale of the canoandes, who kayaked the deepest canyon in the world and fought for Polish Solidarity
“They still can transport to that very moment, which is a really interesting moment. Their hopes and dreams were tied up into this trip. So when the Pope is shot, they literally are like, ‘We must do this expedition for the Pope.’ I wouldn’t say everyone in the expedition felt that way, but a good number were like, ‘We need to be successful because our country will fall apart if we don’t.’”

Inside Trenton’s free-for-all Freedom Skate Park
“This place means a lot to me, and showed me who I really wanted to be in life, which is a skateboarder. I’ve been here so many years and I don’t get sick of it.”

How inequality happens
The radical rise of inequality in our society is a function of the vast political inequality separating the working class from the power structure. The elite rich have many friends in high places paying close attention to their needs, but the further one tumbles down the economic ladder the lonelier you are when your interests conflict with the bosses and big shots.

The perverse vulgarity of book banning
Until recently, there were only a couple of hundred isolated book challenges a year in our entire country, and local school boards and city councils generally handled them properly—without starting an uncivil war. But now, attempted book bans are erupting everywhere, orchestrated by a few extremist political groups and a flock of opportunistic Republican politicians.

If you’re ‘not woke,’ doesn’t that mean you’re asleep?
A political party screaming “Don’t be woke” is a party afraid of the people, wanting you, me and civil society to be asleep, out of it, in dreamland, torpid, inactive… dead.

Paddling the Passaic, an infamously polluted river, and finding hope, humanity and natural beauty
American River, a documentary by NJ filmmaker Scott Morris captures the journey and shares the history of the river with an eye toward its future. See it at NJPAC on Jan. 20.

Leftist mutual aid groups help displaced people and reach marginalized groups as the war in Ukraine continues
“On one hand we do this basic work and then this bigger work of showing the systemic racism on the border with these border violence reports.”

Bankable beer at Salem County’s first brewery, Farmers & Bankers
The folks behind Woodstown’s Farmers & Bankers Brewing aim to make their watering hole the community gathering spot in Salem County

30 years in, moe. endures
“For me, it was kind of like, shit man, life is short. I am feeling good now and I’m feeling like I got through to the other side of this and I want to do stuff that I love doing, and the thing I love doing most is writing new music and getting it made.”

Anthology explores queer and trans identity through horror films
Closet has been embraced by readers. The book is on its second printing, and has received starred reviews. “We knew there would be so much crossover appeal, that queer readers and writers would be interested in it, and horror lovers, and people who just love to read really excellent nonfiction,” says editor Joe Vallese.

This week in Jersey hoops
New Jersey is blue